Lido Theatre and performers for ‘Woman Song’ pulling together for a boy in need

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The community of Fort St. John always seems to pull through for those in need and the Lido Theatre and performers at the ‘Woman Song’ event tomorrow night are hoping it can happen again for a local boy in need of a service dog.

This is the 3rd annual Woman Song event put on by the Lido. The event focus’ on women artists in the community. Normally, the Lido would give the proceeds to another business in need such as the Fort St. John Women’s Resource Society but this year, they decided to do things a little differently.

“Normally what we would do is have the women come and play and 100 percent of the ticket revenue goes to the charity of their choice, the players each year. This year, we heard about this young fellow who needs a service dog so we phoned everybody and we asked them ‘can we kind of pre-do it? Can we give the money to this boy?’.”

The performers agreed to give the proceeds to the young boy.

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Wyatt is a 4-year-old boy that has been diagnosed with Austism, Global Development Delay, Sensory Processing Disorder, Oppositional Defiance disorder and ADHD/ADD.

“There are many reasons that Wyatt is in need of a service dog. Wyatt is a flight risk meaning that without being aware of his whereabouts 100% of the time, Wyatt will wander off and has wandered off resulting in the need of 911 and Community Searches. This isn’t a parent neglect thing – this is while parents are sleeping etc. As well, Wyatt doesn’t like people to touch him but he will bond with animals. He is most often not able to give or receive affection from his family. He had a cat that he would bond with but sadly, it has passed away and really doesn’t do what a dog can do. A dog can let others know when Wyatt is in danger. A dog can help keep Wyatt where he is supposed to be. A dog can help Wyatt, as he gets older, start to learn different ways of being independent. Lastly, Autism isn’t a “seen” disorder therefore the community and general public are not able to realize why he is doing what he is doing and why he may react certain ways. A service dog lets others know that there is a situation and that he needs to be handled differently.”

The Lido theatre says that if they sell out the event for tomorrow night, they would be able to reach the estimated cost of $5,000 for Wyatt’s service dog.

Leash of Hope – a non-profit that focuses on taking dogs and rehabilitating them into service dogs (rather than breeding service dogs) is where a service dog would be provided for Wyatt. This is more cost effective for the family. The funds would also allow them to bring the dog and trainer up to work with the family and train, and covers vet bills.

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